New Randy Travis Documentary “More Life” Premiering Tonight On Circle Network

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Marisa Taylor

It’s hard to find a more compelling life story in country music than Randy Travis.

The country music legend started out playing in a band with his brothers, and eventually caught the eye of a club owner named Lib Hatcher in his home state of North Carolina, who would hire him to sing at her bar.

After a series of arrests as a juvenile, the courts placed him with Hatcher as his guardian, and the pair began to focus on Randy’s music as a full-time career.

When the major record labels told them that Randy was “too country” (the problems with the music industry aren’t new), Hatcher took a job managing a honky tonk in Nashville, the Nashville Palace, and hired Randy as a cook and singer.

While working at the Palace, Randy recorded an independent album, Live at the Nashville Palace, that convinced Warner Bros. Records to sign him to their country label.

Fast forward a few years and after eventually marrying Hatcher and going public with their relationship, Randy Travis led the resurgence of traditional country in the late 1980s and early 1990s, racking up 16 #1 hits and cementing himself as one of the greatest, and one of the most recognizable, voices of all time in country music.

But it’s been anything but smooth sailing: Randy had his own personal issues to deal with along the way. There was his divorce from Hatcher in 2010, and there was his highly-publicized arrest in 2012 after he was found drunk in a church parking lot, and another arrest later in 2012 when he was drunk and found lying naked in the middle of the road.

Randy’s toughest battle yet, though, came in 2013 when he suffered a stroke that’s left him largely unable to talk or sing, and unable to walk long distances without assistance.

Miraculously, though, Randy has recovered some of his ability to talk and sing, and has made appearances back on stage every now and then, much to the delight of country music fans eager to see the legend recover and find his way back.

Well tonight, Randy’s story is going to make its way to the small screen with a new documentary, “More Life,” premiering on Circle Network.

The documentary started as an intimate concert special honoring the 25th anniversary of Randy’s iconic album, Storms of Life. But as the film was being finalized in 2013, Randy unexpectedly became ill and suffered his massive stroke, making him unable to perform and severely limiting his speech.

The film, which premieres tonight at 8:30pm ET/7:30pm CT, will feature many of Randy’s last recorded performances, and caps off a day of Randy Travis programming on Circle Network. And if you don’t have the Circle Network, you’re still in luck, because you can still stream the documentary premiere for free on their website here.

If you’re a fan of Randy Travis (and let’s be honest, what country fan isn’t), you’re not going to want to miss this one.

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